Refrigerator-car



' s Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.) R

T. B. ROBERTS.

REFRIGERATOR CAR.

N0i55 ,s74. I Patented-Mar.1'7,1896.

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(No Model.)

T. B. ROBERTS-1 REFRIGERATOR GAR.

Patented Mar. 1'7, 1896.

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(No Model.)

T. ROBERTS. REFRIGERATOR GAR.

No. 556,374. Patented Mar. 1'7, 1896.

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NITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS ROBERTS, OF KANSAS CITY, KANSAS.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 556,374, dated March 17, 1896.

Application filed S temb 25, 1894. Serial No. 524,031. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS E. ROBERTS, of Kansas City, IVyandotte county, Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerator-Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact de scription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to refrigerator-cars, and the primary object of the same is to provide a construction whereby the brine formed by the melting of the ice and salt may be retained in the oarforasuitable length of time, in fact until it attains a temperature corresponding or approximately corresponding to the temperature of the interior of the car, and then be allowed to automatically escape. As the overflow water which escapes from refrigerator-cars of the ordinary construction is always at or a little above the freezingpoint, it is obvious that the utilization of said water by retaining it within the car for a suitable length of time will save the person or firm at whose expense the car is iced an immense amount of money, time, and labor, because less ice will be needed, and therefore the car will not have to be iced as often as is necessary with the construction in general use at the present time.

A further object of my invention is to provide a construction for supporting the icetanks which is simple, strong, durable, and inexpensive of construction, and which may be easily and quickly removed from or placed in position.

With these objects in view the invention consists in certain peculiar and novel features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section of a refrigerator-car embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same, taken about midway the height of the car. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section of the same. Fig. 4: is a sectional perspective view of one of the brine-receptacles, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the construction employed to support the ice-tanks in position.

In said drawings, 1 designates the bottom, 2 the end, 3 3 the sides, and 4 the roof or top of a refrigerator-car of the ordinary or any preferred construction, and 5 designates one of the doorways formed in the sides of said car.

Arranged internally of the car and against the lower end of the end wall 2 and extending transversely of the car is a beam 6, and secured to the inner side ofthe same near its upper margin is the transverse bar 7, and dividing this bar into four equal parts are thethree angle-brackets 8. The vertical arms of said brackets engage recesses formed in the outer side of said bar, (see Figs. 1 and 5,) and the horizontal arms project inwardly be yond the said bar and are provided with apertures or holes. Arranged centrally of each space formed by the division-brackets 8 are the vertical strips 9, which are secured to the adjacent end wall of the car and upon the beam 6, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 5, so that a space shall be formed between each of said strips and between the side walls of the car and the adjacent strips 9, and said strips are recessed in their outer faces, as shown at 10, so as to form air-passages, which air-passages communicate at their opposite ends with the spaces hereinbefore referred to.

Secured internally of the car and at the junction of the top and the end walls thereof is the horizontal bar 11, which extends from side wall to side wall and bears at its lower side upon the upper ends of the strips 9, and,

depending from said strips centrally of the three spaces formed between the strips 9 are the inwardly-disposed hooks 12. A corresponding number of supporting-rods 13 are provided with eyes 14 at their upper ends, which engage said hooks 12 and are bent at their lower ends to form the outwardly-disposed hooks 15, which hooks 15 are of greater Width than the body portion of the rods 13. These rods 13, when in operative position, extend downward and inward of the car, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 5, and resting upon and against the hooks 15 of said rods is an angle-iron 16, which extends transversely from side wall to side wall of the car. The upper surface of the horizontal portion of the angle-iron 16 occupies the same plane as the upper surface of the bar 7, and to support said an gle-iron in the proper position relative to said bar 7 I employthe brace-rods 17, which extend longitudinally and horizontally of the car and have their outer hook ends 18 engaging apertures in the brackets 8 and their opposite ends projecting through registering apertures in the vertical arm of the angleirons 16 and in the hooks of the rods 13, and to prevent the accidental disconnection of said brace-bars 17, the angle-iron 1G, and hooks 15 I employ wedges or keys 19, which each engage a Vertical aperture in the projecting end of one of said brace-rods 17. In order to provide an additional support, I secure vertically to the side walls of the car the brackets 20, (one only of which is shown,) which are provided with the horizontal arms 2], upon which the ends of the angle-iron 16 rest, and the vertical arms 22 which bear against the inwardly-disposed side of the vertical arm of said an gle-iron 16. The ice-tanks 23 of the construction shown or of any other suitable or preferred construction are arranged against the strips 9 and rest upon the bar 7 and the horizontal arm of the angleiron 16.

To prevent the accidental dislodgment of the ice-tanks, I employ a framework which bears against the inner side of the said tanks, and which is in turn supported by the notched bars 2%, secured vertically to the side walls of the car. Said framework consists of the horizontal bars 25 and the vertical bars 26 con necting the same. This supporting-frame work I have covered in a patent on refrigerator-cars granted to me July t, 1893, No. 500,015, reference to which is herewith made for a more thorough understanding of the construction and arrangement of the framework. It is only necessary herein to state that this framework, consisting of the bars 25 and 26, can be easily and quickly disengaged from the bars 2; or re-engaged therewith by the proper manipulation. This framework is also additionally secured by the tie-rod 27, which is hooked at one end to an eyebolt 28 carried by the end wall of the car, and has its opposite end projecting through an aperture in said framework, and is engaged at its end by a retaining-nut 29.

A passage 30 is formed above the ice-tanks 23 and normally closed by the plug 31, and an opening in the roof of the car, which registers with this passage 30, is closed by a trapdoor 32 of any preferred construction. A drip-pan 33 is formed below the ice-tanks 23, and is provided with an overflow-trap, from which the escape-pipe 3i depends through the bottom of the car. This water-trap is of the usual or any preferred construction,which allows the water to escape and at the same time prevents the entrance of outside air to the interior of the car.

35 designates T-couplings, which each eonnect a pair of ice-tanks 23, and also connects said ice-tanks through the medium of the pipes 36, 37 and 38 with the lower end of a pair of brine-receptacles 39,which are secured by the brackets 10 to the side walls of the car, or may be secured in such position by any other suitable means. These brine-receptacles preferably will extend from a point adjacent to the ice-tanks nearly to the dooropenings 5 in the sides of the ear, but may be any length desired. An overliow-pipe 41 communicates at its lower end with the drippan 33 and at its opposite end with the upper end of the brine-receptacle 39.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the ice-tanks may be easily and quickly secured in or removed from position, and that the brine formed by the salt and melting ice within the ice-tanks will, as it reaches a height corresponding to the ,position of the connecting-pipes 35, flow from the ice-tanks and into the brine-receptacles 39, which will thus be gradually filled. These brine-receptacles 39 are of such capacity that by the time the ice is melted sufficiently to fill said receptacles with brine the upper portion of said brine will have attained a temperature corresponding or approximately correspond ing to the temperature of the interior of the car, and it being undesirable that the brine at such temperature shall remain longer in the car it will escape by way of the pipe 4-1, drip-pan 33, and pipe 34: from the car. In order to remove all sediment from the brinereceptacles, they are provided with openings in their lower ends, normally closed by plugs 42, while all sediment, sawdust, &c., within the ice-tanks 23 may be removed by with d rawing the plugs 43, which normally close the hand-hole openings in the lower ends of the said ice-tanks.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a refrigerator-car, the combination of a series of icetanks, pipes conn eeting the same, brinereceptacles arranged longitudinally and internally against the sides of the car, pipes in a substantially horizontal plane extending under the contiguous ice-tanks and connected at their outer ends to the lower ends of the brine-receptacles, upright pipes connecting the inner ends of said pipes to certain of the pipes connecting directly the ice-tanks, and overflow-pipes communicating at their upper ends with the upper ends of the brine-receptaeles,as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS B. ROBER'ITS. \Vitnesses:

H. R. REMLEY, G. Y. THoR'PE.

IIO 

